April 3, 2026
By Elizabeth Tucker–
Sleepy Hollow native Madeleine Dopico launched her psychotherapy practice, Two Point Oh Therapy, last month. With an office in Manhattan, she offers virtual appointments to clients in Westchester and throughout New York State. Her clients receive insight-oriented, hands-on therapy for adults seeking emotional clarity and concrete shifts in how they think, relate, and make decisions.
When asked how her experiences in the community shaped her choice of profession, she replied that living in a diverse place contributed to developing a healthy mental life. “Growing up in Sleepy Hollow,” she remembered, “I experienced a rare environment where people could be more than one thing. There was a real mix of backgrounds, identities, and interests, and a culture of open-mindedness that didn’t force you into a box. . . . I felt there was a freedom to explore who you were and what kind of life felt worth pursuing.” At Sleepy Hollow High School, she was editor of the school newspaper, vice president of the school, and performed in musicals every year. In her opinion, the school “did a great job supporting our autonomy and empowering us to take initiative.” Importantly, the district encouraged “cross-group collaboration” between students in different grades, on different teams, and in different friend groups.
Dopico graduated in 2009. After she left home and experienced other educational, professional, and social settings, she found these often came with “more rigid expectations to be a certain kind of person, and with a narrower sense of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ ways to live.” The shock of this contrast motivated her to pursue a career in psychotherapy. Among her patients, she has seen “how many struggles are tied to people feeling boxed in, afraid of judgment and failure, disconnected, and not fully themselves. I can’t recreate someone’s environment, but I can help people build the skills to feel more comfortable and confident and break out of the patterns that keep them feeling unfulfilled.” She conceives this rebooted self, at once more distinct and more rooted, as the Two Point Oh self that she helps her patients to actualize.
In an innovative supplement to her practice, Dopico organizes Mental Health Parties. In her account, “A lot of traditional social settings rely on small talk or unspoken social rules, which can increase anxiety. . .. Instead, we give people something to do, something to talk about that genuinely sparks their interest, and experiences to connect around in a way that feels more natural and generative.”
In an era when rates of anxiety and depression in teenagers have been steadily rising, parents are looking for advice. “Mental health,” Dopico points out, “exists on a continuum and impacts everyone.” Parents and schools can “normalize and even celebrate that, and take a more proactive, preventative approach—addressing mental health not just in moments of crisis, but by helping adolescents build awareness and skills early on.” Emotional resilience is developed through struggle. Role models should encourage teenagers “not to shy away from hardship or feel shame around imperfection and failure, but instead learn to lean into challenges with the understanding that they can move through them. Parents can also teach skills that support that process, like positive self-talk and reframing, a growth mindset rather than black-and-white thinking, and basic tools to regulate their nervous system when they feel overwhelmed.”
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April 3, 2026
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